Obs. Forms: 1 fyndele, 3 find-, fundles, 6–7 pl. findelles, findal(l)s, fyndalls. [OE. fyndele str. masc., f. fund- ablaut-stem of find-an to FIND; quot. a. 1225 points to a form *findels, f. the pres.-stem (cf. Da. findelse).] a. Invention. b. That which is found; treasure-trove.
a. 1000. Scintilla, 108. Ad inventionem, to fyndele.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 6. Þe vttre riwle, ðet ich þuften cleopede, & is monnes findles. Ibid., 8. Ne beoð nout monnes fundlses.
1525. in Boys, Sandwich (1792), 775. Findalls to be ordered by the mayor, bailiffs, and jurats, where they happen [etc.] Ibid. (1570), Wrecks and fyndalls floating, and the half of all wrecks and fyndalls jottsome.
a. 1598, trans. Charter Edw. I to Cinque Ports, in Hakluyt, Voy., I. 117. And that they [Barons] shall haue their findelles in the sea and in the land.
1629. in Boys, Sandwich (1792), 775. Wrecks and findals.
